Wednesday, January 20, 2016

I am so excited to be hosting a spot on blog tour for NIGHT STUDY by Maria V. Snyder. I think by now you all know how obsessed I am with Maria's books if you havent had a chance to read them I highly suggest you do! NIGHT STUDY was as fantastic as the rest of the series and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book! I have a deleted scene to share with you today! And make sure to enter the
giveaway!

Ever since being kidnapped from the Illiais Jungle
as a child, Yelena Zaltana's life has been fraught with peril. But the recent
loss of her Soulfinding abilities has endangered her more than ever before. As
she desperately searches for a way to reclaim her magic, her enemies are
closing in, and neither Ixia nor Sitia is safe for her anymore. Especially
since the growing discord between the two countries and the possibility of a
war threatens everything Yelena holds dear.

Valek is determined to protect Yelena, but he's quickly running out of options.
The Commander suspects that his loyalties are divided, and he's been keeping
secrets from Valek…secrets that put him, Yelena and all their friends in
terrible danger. As they uncover the various layers of the Commander's
mysterious plans, they realize it's far more sinister than they could have ever
imagined.

Now on to the deleted scene!

Deleted Scene: Valek, Yelena, Janco and Onora are in Ixia staying at
a mining camp in the foothills of the Soul Mountains. They’re discussing setting an ambush at the
castle. Yelena’s POV.

He ladled stew into them one at a time, passing them
around the fire. “Then we set our ambush
at the castle.”

“At the gates?”

“We don’t have enough people who can sense magic to
cover all four of them,” Valek said.
“We’d have to use the Commander as bait.”

“No.” Onora’s
firm tone sounded more like an order than a disagreement. “Find another way.”

Valek stiffened.

I touched his arm.
“There are enough to be stationed at the gates.”

He turned his attention to me. “You wouldn’t want to put Reema in harm’s
way. Who else is there?”

“Kiki.”

“That’s three, who’s the fourth?”

I glanced at Onora.
Just how trustworthy was she.
Would she report the person to the Commander? While the Commander has been a little more
accepting of Sitian magicians in Ixia, he wouldn’t tolerate one of his own
people using magic. He’d order his
execution just like he had ordered mine when he discovered my ability. Good thing I had enough time to escape to
Sitia. I don’t think Porter, the
Commander’s kennel master would run away.
No. Porter would report to the
noose as directed.

“I’ll tell you if the situation arises,” I said.

“You can’t do that,” Janco cried. “Now I’m gonna be up all night thinking about
who it is.”

Valek laid his hand over mine and squeezed. He understood. Despite the Commander’s zero tolerance, Valek
had allowed Porter to continue smuggling those young adolescents who developed
magic at the same time they hit puberty.
A double whammy. If they were
smart, they’d hid their powers until they could leave Ixia via Porter’s
network. If they were exposed, then
Valek was dispatched to assassinate the young man or woman. Or so everyone thought.

Over the eight years I’ve been with him, I’d learned
that he funneled more people through Porter’s network than he’d killed. But the one thing I hadn’t told Valek was
about Porter’s own magical power. The
man communicated with his dogs the same way I’d “talked” to Kiki.

I reached out to Kiki without thinking, and encountered
dead silence. The usual sharp jab of
sorrow failed to manifest. Just a pang
of disappointment fluttered in my chest.
Interesting. Was I resigned to
being without my magic?

[A bit later that night]

A sleepy silence descended for about two seconds.

“Yelena, who is the fourth person who can sense
magic? I can’t sleep.” Janco pleaded
from the other side of the fire.

I decided to have some fun with Janco. “I’ll tell you, but you have to keep it a
secret.”

“Okay.”

“You can’t even tell Ari. Promise?”

A pause, then a weak, “Okay. I promise.”

“It’s the Commander.”

Valek tightened his grip. He and I knew the Commander did have magic,
but not in the same way as a magician.
The Commander’s mother’s soul remained with him. She had been a healer before she died in
childbirth.

“He won’t,” Valek whispered in my ear. “Because I will not let him or anyone else harm you.”

I turned my head.
“What if he orders you?” When the
Commander had written the execution order eight years ago, he hadn’t given it
to Valek. If he had, then Valek would
have killed me. No doubt. His loyalty to the Commander was
absolute. And I understood and accepted
it.

“Then it will be the first time I’ve disobeyed a direct
order.”

Wow. That was
new. Warmth spread throughout my chest
and it wasn’t because of the fire.

About
Maria:

Maria
V. Snyder changed from being a meteorologist to a novelist in 1995, when she
began writing to keep her sanity while raising two children. Since then, she
has published numerous freelance articles in magazines and newspapers, and
teaches fiction-writing classes at the local college and area libraries. The
classes give her the wonderful opportunity to encourage fellow writers, and to
keep improving her craft.

Born
and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Maria always had a fascination with
big storms. Dreaming of chasing tornados, Maria earned a bachelors of science
degree in meteorology at Penn State University. But she discovered, much to her
chagrin, that forecasting the weather wasn't one of her skills. In order to
chase tornados you had to predict where they might form. Creating fantasy
worlds where she has complete control of the weather was more agreeable to her.

Maria's
research on food-tasting methods with an expert chocolate taster, her husband,
turned out to be a delicious bonus while writing Poison Study.

Maria
has a brown belt in Isshinryu Karate, and enjoys playing volleyball and the
cello. Traveling in general and via cruise ship in particular are her biggest
distractions from writing. Maria has traveled to Belize, Canada, China, Costa
Rica, Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal.

Maria
lives with her husband, son, daughter and yellow lab, Hazelnut, in Pennsylvania
where she is at work on more LUNA novels. She is also pursuing a master's
degree in writing popular fiction from Seton Hill University.

I remember reading once that she said she never wrote three books per one series because she usually got bored if she was reading a series after the third book. I know that most of her books are in the same world but I always take them as chronicles. A certain set of adventures and character building are in each three. And I have to say, every 'set' of books are fantastic and really bring me into the rich and expansive world she's developed!

I really liked this! I'm a huge fan of fairy tale retellings and most of the Peter Pan/Neverland ones I have read have been a huge disappointment. Not this one though! I thought Lisa wrote a beautiful story and I loved her take on Neverl...

Wow this book was really good! I'm going to forever call Revenge And The Wild "the kitchen sink book" because Michelle took everything she could think of including the kitchen sink and put it into this novel! This book was a historical, ...

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